A network is a system of hardware and software, put together for the purpose of communication and resource sharing. A network includes resources such as transmission hardware and devices to interconnect transmission media and to control transmissions, and software to decode and format data, as well as to detect and correct problems in transmission. There are several types of networks in use today. In some networks, such as local area networks (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN), the resources are physically connected to each other. In other networks, such as virtual private networks (VPN), some of the links between the resources are carried by virtual connections routed through a larger network.
A VPN typically uses a public communication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or individual users with secure access to an enterprise network. A VPN works by using the shared public infrastructure while maintaining privacy through security procedures and tunneling protocols such as Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol, and Internet Protocol security (IPSec) protocol.
Traditional VPN systems required dedicated software, referred to as client software, to be installed and managed on user computing devices to establish modules in the computing device that enable connection to the VPN and the use of remote applications. As maintaining software on user computing devices became relatively costly and time consuming, clientless VPN systems were developed. These clientless VPN systems do not require a device to be pre-configured with the client software. Such clientless VPN systems, however, are limited by their applicability to static port remote applications alone. With a growing demand for dynamic port applications, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Video Conferencing, it would be advantageous to implement a way of providing clientless VPN access that can support the dynamic port applications as well.